Interview with the Creators of "Being Erica"

[shipperx]

Link: http://www.jenbutneverjenn.com/2010/12/interview-being-erica-writers-aaron.html

Article Tidbits:
...one day I happened to mention to a friend (hi Kendra!) that I liked a particular TV show, she then mentioned to me that she knew someone who worked on it, and less than a week later, I'm sitting in a cute Leslieville cafe with Being Erica writers and executive producers, Aaron Martin and Jana Sinyor. 

I call it the Two Degrees of Kevin Canadian Bacon.

So, who exactly are these kind people who have generously allowed me to fangirl in their presence?

Jana Sinyor is the creator, writer and executive producer of Being Erica.

Here's some pop culture trivia on Jana:
Favourite Female TV Character: Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Favourite Male TV Character: Jimmy McNulty from The Wire 
Favourite TV Show (no longer airing): A tie between Freaks and Geeks and Star Trek: The Next Generation {...}

Aaron Martin is the writer and executive producer of Being Erica.

Here's some pop culture trivia on Aaron:
Favourite Female TV Character: Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica
Favourite Male TV Character: Dexter Morgan from Dexter 
Favourite TV Show (no longer airing):  Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Rome 
Favourite TV Show (still airing): True Blood 
Most Overrated TV Show: Glee 
Person Whose Brain He'd Love To Pick: Joss Whedon or J.J. Abrams


 

Now, on to the show:

Erica Strange is a woman in her early 30s who feels like a failure. Despite being smart, attractive, and educated - Erica's given up on her dreams of being a writer, has just been canned from a dead-end customer service job (which is a huge contrast to her younger sister's successful career as a surgeon), and has a string of unsuccessful relationships. The people around her seem to keep moving along while Erica seems ... stuck. Knowing what I do about people who have Masters degrees in English Literature (Erica's big accomplishment), that all sounds about right.

After a particularly heinous day, she meets Dr. Tom, a man who offers to become her therapist and help her work through some of the issues she's having. Little does she know, Dr. Tom is no average shrink. When, as instructed by Dr. Tom, she compiles a list of her regrets in life, Erica suddenly finds herself transported back to high school - living in her teenage body but equipped with her present-day, 32-year old mind - and just in time to relive or fix one of the humiliations on her list. As you can imagine, things don't go too smoothly. {...}

Rest of the article here

 

Interesting Bits:

Aaron: We play with fate a bit – show some alternative realities – like Adam has one where he’s married to Beatrice and Erica has one where she’s rich. But mainly, we’ve written things that way because we want the dramatic thrust of the show to focus on the present than the past. So, it’s not about going to the past to fix your problems, it’s about going back to the past to learn from your problems, and bringing those lessons to fix her current issues

{...}

Aaron: Our friends are very vocal. They watch and they definitely let us know what they think of it.
Jana: People e-mail. People Facebook.
Aaron: There’s a LiveJournal site we look at.  And Television Without Pity.

{...}

Jen: Being Erica is being remade for a British audience. Do you have any input in that? Do you want any? Are you OK with having your character in someone else’s hands?

Jana: Nope – no real input. It’s being made for that other culture so I think it really does have to handled by someone who is immersed in that culture. I mean, if being Erica was being made for Egypt, should I really have input in how the portrayal is done?

[Me:  I also saw that they're creating an American Remake... and I wonder, is Canada so different...?]

{...}

Aaron: Lots of times I’ll write a very female-centric scene like a guy, and Jana will be like, “this is NOT how a woman would say that!”

(There's more at the link)